One of the difficulties encountered when a fire occurs is the ability to leave the facility to escape the fire when there is intense smoke present and thus essentially zero visibility. It can be appreciated that a novel, unique and inexpensive smoke and fire rescue system could potentially save thousands of lives each year. Those people that are trapped in smoke filed homes, schools, hotels and so forth have probably lost their sense of direction and therefore it is essential that they have quick and direct guidance to an exit door without having to be able to see the door. Disorientation is common in such a situation. Thus it has always been recognized that fire rescue systems should be located on or adjacent the floor since one trapped in a smoke filled room should stay as close to the floor as possible.
The present invention relates to a system which enables one trapped in a smoke filled room to escape and be lead to an exit door. The invention includes providing a fire resistant cable system that is located throughout the house and is constructed and arranged that one following the cable system will be led initially to a exit key box. The cable can be housed in a decorative continuous track. In the rescue box that is located about one foot off the floor there is located a harness that one can wrap around their wrist and the harness will be hooked on to a cable that will lead to an exit key box containing a key for opening the exit door adjacent thereto. The harness helps insure that contact with the cable will not be lost.
The cable can be housed in a separate molding secured to the wall closely adjacent the floor or disposed in a groove in which the cable will rest until use thereof is required. The molding will be designed to retain the cable in place but will readily permit the cable to be released from the molding so that the person gripping the cable can follow the cable to the rescue box and exit key box. The cable support can consist of thin flexible aluminum strips that serve as a guide for the cable and the cable will be held in position by plates that will easily give way to permit the cable to be withdrawn therefrom. The end of the cable is anchored securely to an exit key box, which contains exit keys for all exterior doors. This insures quick escape when you reach the door since there is no time lost to search for a key. Located at spaced places around the facility are rescue boxes in which is located a wrist harness to facilitate the person exiting the house to remain attached to the cable. The harness will contain a serious of clips, which would clip onto the cable and the person to whom the wrist harness is secured would merely follow the cable leading to the exit key box and thus readily exit from the smoke enclosed area. It can be seen by the attached drawings that a variety of shapes and sizes of tracks can be employed as well as different types of boxes in which the wrist harness and exit keys are located. In addition there will be a drawing showing a system employed throughout one level of a home. Of course, the system can be applied upstairs and have a cable leading down to an exit door to allow one exiting from a smoke filled room in the second floor or other living areas of the home.